Waking up at 6:00 to the fresh air of Serra da Estrela was a special feeling, and we were excited to start the hiking day. Coming from different countries with diverse landscapes, walking down and up the rocky mountain was a new experience for some of us, that demanded the best of our efforts. The first stop we made was dedicated for stretching and tuning in, and later we reached a lake where we enjoyed the cold water. It took us a while to reach the end of the trail, but group by group, all with different rhythms, we finished the walk and accomplished this mission. Tired but pleased.
It is often during challenging times, for some more than others, that special friendships seem to be created. Conditions like heat, breathtaking mountains, and long distances foster connections between people of different cultures and languages. More impressively, we saw how the sharing of strength and motivation took place. Stronger ones helping the tired or injured ones, arm in arm, regardless of their background or even if they were friends or (semi)strangers.
On a more conscious level, during the walk we worked on the following questions to do with Natural Human Communication: What is human? What is natural? What is communication? The many hours of walking were good opportunities for good discussions.
Back home, it was the turn of the Danish to provide the Gathering with a lovely dinner, of which the pronunciation of the dishes' names was half of the fun. After dinner, in our family room we met with Eitan to speak about addictions: how they work on us, what happens in our brains, and what we can do in order to avoid and replace them with positive habits. Perhaps the exhaustion of the intense, yet very fun day was a perfect opening for the participants to take in Eitan's words on how to create better rhythms and habits within your life.
Tired, but satisfied we look back on a balanced day, full of positive challenges and progression; both personal and in groups, both physical and mental.